MINNESOTA PREMIERE

About the film

In the face of a lack of job opportunities, Antonio, a passionate but often unemployed actor, accepts a job as a teacher of a theater workshop in a penitentiary institution. Initially hesitant, he discovers talent within the unlikely company of inmates. Day by day, the group yields to Antonio's determination, discovering the liberating power of art and its ability to provide purpose and hope beyond waiting. 

From writer-director Riccardo Milani (Come un gatto in tangenziale, Corro da te), the intention at the heart of Grazie Ragazzi is explicitly social: to convey the tremendous transformative and therapeutic power of art for those who are marginalized.

Winner for Best Actor in a Comedy (Antonio Albanese) at the Nastri d’Argento in 2023.

DIRECTOR

Riccardo Milani (Rome, 1958) is an Italian screenwriter and film and television director. He began his career in 1985, as assistant director of Mario Monicelli, and was later assistant of Nanni Moretti, Florestano Vancini and Daniele Luchetti. In 1994, he made his feature film debut with the comedy-drama Auguri professore, and in 2001, he made his television debut, directing the miniseries Il sequestro Soffiantini. In 2020 & 2023, IFF screened his highly successful comedies Come un gatto in tangenziale and Corro da te, which provided our audience with a lot of laughs, and we are delighted to bring him back with his latest feature for this Minnesota premiere, Grazie Ragazzi.